NEWS / REGIONAL
Abu Dhabi geared for mega-congress Phase one plans for the February 2012 WOC event complete
Phase one plans for staging the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) 2012 – the world’s longest continuous medical meeting taking place in Abu Dhabi next February – have now been implemented. WOC organiser, the Middle East Africa Council of Ophthal- mology (MEACO), has revealed that more than 900 speakers have been invited to the event; around 2,700 abstracts have been submitted, more than 80 companies have signed on for the associated exhibition, and more than 40 Abu Dhabi hotels are participating. “The planning is going well
and we are on target in terms of our operational goals,” said WOC president Dr Abdulaziz Al Rajhi. “Approximately 3,000 square
metres, which represents 70 percent of the targeted exhi- bition space, has been con- tracted. We also have platinum, gold and silver sponsors con- firmed and more in the pipeline. Abu Dhabi’s stakeholders are responding extremely posi- tively in supporting the con- gress, which will be the largest
ever medical congress to be held in the UAE capital with a target of more than 8,000 people visiting the city to attend. “An official hotel programme is
now in place with around 40 par- ticipating hotels now bookable online through
www.woc2012.org.” MEACO and the Abu Dhabi
Tourism Authority (ADTA), which is supporting the con- gress, plan to launch a major WOC 2012 campaign at the 24th Congress of the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons, which will be held from September 17-21 in Vienna. “We will be on hand to answer
any questions potential delegates have before they make final travel decisions,” explained ADTA international promotions man- ager Mubarak Al Nuaimi. “Our hope is to convince them
that Abu Dhabi is the right choice for the World Ophthalmology Congress and that they can expect a welcome like no other when they arrive in the UAE capital.” WOC will take place from
February 16-20 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).
Gulf Air launches corporate incentive programme
Bahrain flag carrier Gulf Air plans to introduce a corporate incentive programme under a raft of initiatives aimed at clawing back its market share. Falcon Corporate Plus offers
a basket of exclusive privileges that can be tailor-made for each client. The range of benefits include exclusive price discounts, free upgrades from economy to Falcon Gold class, free lounge access for economy class passen- gers, and both free parking and chauffeur service to and from the Bahrain International Airport. The airline will also focus on small and medium enterprises
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(SMEs) with the creation of an incentive programme specifically tailored to meet this market seg- ment’s requirements. Other initiatives planned include a revamp of its Sky Chef service and a makeover of the airline’s frequent flyer programme. Gulf Air recently announced
a discount for government officials when they book their travel directly with the airline. The carrier’s CCO Karim Makhlouf said: “Since the launch of the airline’s new business strategy in November 2009 by CEO Samer Majali, we have made some notable progress;
we added 15 new destinations to our network, discontinued four unviable routes, brought in 14 new aircraft, improved our on-time performance by seven
percent and achieved a fleet technical dispatch reliability of 98.9 percent.” “Now the time has come for us to focus on our customers’ needs.”
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